TV Notes

Looks Like a Hit

By BILL CARTER

Published: September 10, 1997

The first faint glint of a possible new hit show was detected on Monday by Fox, when the ratings for its new drama, ''Ally McBeal,'' exceeded most expectations. Mainly it did so by beating the rating for the first new episode of ''Melrose Place,'' which immediately preceded it.

''Melrose Place,'' had an 8.6 rating; ''Ally McBeal,'' a show about a young female lawyer whose Walter Mitty-like innermost thoughts are dramatized, had a 9.3. For Fox, it was the best performance by a new show on Monday night in eight years, since ''Alien Nation.'' BILL CARTER